Katelyn’s body decomposed before Ben’s eyes. It seemed that every moment of decomposition that she had missed over the centuries caught up with her in a matter of minutes. In almost no time at all, all that remained of her was a pile of dusty bones and the clothing she’d been wearing.

“Aiden, escort Benedict back to his room,” said Theo. His voice was distant as though his mind were far away. Indeed, his face was vacant and impassive as he stared down at Katelyn’s remains.

Ben moved without any prompting. He didn’t need to be told twice to get away from the madman with the samurai sword.

“Wait,” Theo said, grabbing Ben’s arm as he attempted to pass him. “Give me your telephone. I don’t want you sending any messages about this new discovery.”

Ben didn’t dare argue, as deflating as it was to be relieved of his device. Erin had already had more than enough time to get his location. His phone was of no further use to him. With a heavy sigh, he pulled his phone from his pocket and dropped it into Theo’s hand. Theo gave Aiden a nod, and Ben was led out of the room.

Ben went to speak but Aiden clamped a hand over his mouth lightning fast. “Say nothing,” he whispered, pointing to his ears. He was as scared as Ben was. Theo had crossed a line that even Aiden hadn’t expected.

Aiden returned Ben to his room in silence and locked him inside. Ben seriously hoped that Erin would hurry up and come for him because he wanted to be as far away from Theo as possible. Theo may have revealed that he did not want Ben dead, but that only made Ben think he had something worse in store for him.

And then there was the mystery of all that cryptic Korvus line stuff Katelyn had mentioned. From the sounds of it, an entire bloodline had been wiped out. Ben didn’t even want to think about how that could have happened, and it was clear that the incident had rattled both Theo and Katelyn.

Ben flopped down on the bed; he was tired, but his mind was buzzing too much to allow him to sleep. There was too much going on now and he understood none of it. He didn’t know why his being a progenitor needed to be kept a secret or what it meant to Theo. He didn’t know what it meant at all.

He closed his eyes and Cindy flashed to the forefront of his mind. She was on the floor of the dining room, sticky with sweat, and racked with pain. The stake went into her chest and guilt engulfed him like a cloak. Ben opened his eyes, eager to be free of the haunting visage.

He had not killed Cindy but he felt as though he had. After everything that he’d done since becoming a vampire, he was surprised that this was the thing that finally came back to nibble at his conscience. His part in her death was tiny and unwilling. Theo was entirely responsible. He had invaded Cindy’s home. He had kidnapped her children. He had used her as a guinea pig in his experiment. And he had driven the stake through her heart and killed her. Everything Theo had done had been for his own gain. He had killed both Cindy and Katelyn without hesitation and without a care.

Ben understood now why Izzy had been so worried about him. He was like Theo now and maybe if he survived this ordeal, a decade or a century from now, his own sense of right and wrong might become warped by his own selfishness. Maybe he would end up like Theo.

“Hello?” a man whispered at the door, ripping Ben away from his thoughts.

“Yes?” Ben asked, sitting up on the bed.

“They won’t let me upstairs.” It was Leon. Ben’s stomach somersaulted. “What happened up there? I heard…screaming. Is my wife…is she okay?”

“Oh,” Ben whispered, unsure how to break the news to Leon.

“Please tell me.”

Ben squeezed his eyes shut. Maybe if he stayed this way Leon would just go away. “Theo made me turn her into a vampire,” he admitted. He could have left out his part in the ordeal but he felt like he had to take some small responsibility.

“What happened?” Leon’s voice turned sad and terrified.

“He made me do it. And then…” Ben wanted to tell Leon about the hours he’d spent guiding his wife through the transformation. But he couldn’t let Leon know how much agony his wife had endured in her last night alive. He probably knew anyway, there was no way he hadn’t heard her screams.

“Theo killed her.” His throat tried to close up and stop him from speaking the truth, but Ben forced it out. Leon deserved to know what had happened.

“She’s…” Leon’s words turned into a shapeless sob and he thudded to the floor on the other side of the door.

Ben offered no words of comfort and submitted no further details about what had happened. Anything he said now would only make things worse. So he sat on the bed and listened to Leon cry softly in the hallway because that was all he could do.

After a long while, Leon stopped crying and Ben thought that perhaps he had left. But then he spoke. His voice was not sad or trembling, it was empty and hard.

“I will kill you for this,” Leon said.

Ben could have tried to clear his name. He could have tried to console the man on the other side of the door. But he said nothing. He remained silent and absorbed Leon’s hatred. He dropped back on the bed and squeezed his eyes shut. Leon’s threat was as hollow as Ben felt, and yet it rocked him all the same.

Ben woke up to see Aiden sitting on the little stool by the dresser. He was grateful that Aiden’s attention was on his phone; had he been staring at Ben it would have driven the creepy factor up to well above a hundred. It was bad enough that Aiden had managed to sneak in without waking him.

“Good evening, Sleeping Beauty,” he said. He seemed jollier than the last time they’d spoken. Perhaps he’d finally forgiven Ben for prying into his relationship with Theo. “I brought you a change of clothes. Soz if they’re not up to spec. There’s a shower on the left. Come up when you’re done and we’ll have breakfast.” Aiden delivered his speech without once looking up from his phone. Then, still without breaking the loving gaze he was sharing with his device, he stood up and strolled out of the room.

Ben grabbed the clothes and carried them through to the shower room. He’d been expecting some cheaply built bathroom extension because it was in the basement, but what he found was a nicer bathroom than he’d ever used in his life. A walk-in shower took up half the room with a huge rainforest showerhead. For a moment, Ben actually forgot that he was a prisoner and not a guest in a fancy hotel.

He dropped the clothes on the cabinet and stripped off before stepping into the shower. The feeling of the warm water hitting his skin brought more comfort than he’d thought possible. He closed his eyes and scrubbed at his flesh as though if he scrubbed hard enough, he might be able to wash away the memory of the previous night’s events.

He squeezed his eyes tighter still and told himself that his situation was not hopeless. The grass was greener on the other side, he just hadn’t quite made it to the other side yet. Erin would come soon and she would kill Theo. Then Ben would be free to live the life he’s always wanted. A life where he answered to nobody and was free from being pushed around.

When he opened his eyes again, he felt better. He had a plan and it was going to work. All he had to do was bide his time until Erin arrived, and hope that the plan worked better than it had last time. It should since Castling wasn’t around to screw it up, and for the time being, Theo seemed to have forgotten all about Erin.

It was only when he was putting the clothes on that he realised how horrible they were. He’d been given a pair of light brown linen trousers and a Chelsea football shirt. Aiden must have taken them from Leon’s wardrobe. Leon would add clothes-thief to his list of reasons to hate Ben.

Ben didn’t encounter Leon on his way upstairs although he did keep his eye out for him. It would have been foolish not to since the guy had threatened to kill him last night. Or, last morning. Ben was still getting used to being nocturnal. Even when he walked into the living room and saw Aiden, he almost said good morning.

“Hello,” he opted for instead. Saying good night as a greeting just seemed weird.

Aiden was alone on the sofa, his legs curled beneath him, his phone in his hands, and his body hidden beneath a baggy hoody. Ben felt more confident without Theo around. Aiden was the most approachable vampire he’d met so far.

“Look who finally made it out the shower,” he said, as usual, he did not look up from his phone. “I thought you might be knocking one out in there.”

Ben did a double-take, not sure that he’d heard correctly. “No. No, I did not do that.” He was in no mood for masturbation. He sat down carefully on the other sofa, wary that Theo might pop up at any moment and put him through another night of hell.

“Theo’s gone out,” Aiden said, apparently sensing Ben’s discomfort and seeking to put him at ease.

“Oh, good,” Ben said. He sunk back into the deep cushions of the sofa, letting himself relax more fully. “Where’s he gone?”

Aiden shrugged and his eyes lost a little of their shine. “Beats me. Said something about witches.”

It appeared that Aiden and Theo weren’t on the best of terms. No doubt it was because of Aiden had argued with Theo last night. If Ben was clever then he might be able to use it to his advantage, but it had backfired rather badly the last time he’d attempted that.

“You hungry?” Aiden asked, looking up for the first time.

Ben hadn’t thought about his appetite, but now that Aiden mentioned it, his stomach did feel barren. As if on cue, his stomach let out an echoing rumble.

Aiden snorted. “That’s a yes then. Andrea bring us a couple of glasses!” he yelled. He locked his phone and slipped it into the pocket of his skinny jeans.

Andrea entered the room with two-pint glasses in her hands. Her dark hair hung down in a messy ponytail and streaks of mascara had run down from her smudged eyes. Her pupils had expanded with terror and her hands were shaking. Clearly, she’d heard the commotion last night and it had rattled her.

Ben couldn’t sit by and watch her go through such an ordeal. Not when he could do something to at least make the whole thing easier for her. Had Theo been home, he would not have dared to act of his own accord, but in the presence of only Aiden, he was not afraid. And he wanted Aiden to see some compassion. He wanted to show him that Theo was a monster.

As Andrea bent to place the glasses on the coffee table, Ben grabbed her arm and gently pulled her towards him.

“Hey, come here,” he said, turning her his way.

“What are you doing?” Aiden asked. He sat up straighter, but he did not try to stop Ben.

“Making this easier for all of us,” Ben told him. Then he transferred his gaze to Andrea and stared intently into her frightened eyes. “Do not be afraid. Think of everything that has happened, and everything that happens from now on, as perfectly normal. This is just a job for you, no different from working in a shop. Feel no fear and feel no pain.”

Ben wasn’t sure if he could mesmerise somebody not to feel pain, but it was immediately clear that her fear was gone. He watched it dissipate. Her trembling ceased at once and her breathing evened out. The huge wells of darkness that were her pupils contracted to regular size.

“Thank you,” she said, in a flat and even tone. Ben felt disgusting to be thanked for making somebody act like being put through hell was normal. He’d just forced her to come to terms with being a walking blood bag and she’d shown him gratitude for it.

He let go of her arm and she resumed the task she had been set. She pulled out a small kitchen knife and sliced open her arm before holding it over the glass. Ben looked away so he didn’t have to watch her gush her precious life source in order to serve them their breakfast. When she was finished, Aiden fed her some of his own blood to heal her wounds and then sent her back to the kitchen.

“That was kind of you,” he said. There was a note of accusation in his tone. He was not used to seeing a vampire treat a human with kindness. Unlike Theo, Ben did not think that they were much different from humans. Just more deadly.

Ben shrugged. “I don’t like seeing people so scared. Not if they don’t deserve it, anyway.” He’d quite enjoy instilling a little terror into a few choice individuals.

“Me neither,” Aiden said, lifting his glass up and glancing away. “If I could mesmerise…”

“I know you would. You show kindness when you heal them. I doubt that Theo would bother to do that.”

Aiden laughed derisively. “You got that right.”

They both fell quiet as they glugged on their breakfasts. The blood was almost flavourless, and Ben assumed it was because he’d taken Andrea’s fear away. There was a slightly sweet tang to it, but it was faint and lacked any kick. It filled Ben with strength all the same, and that was the main thing. When Ben’s glass was halfway depleted he decided to try his luck again.

“I’m sorry for what I said yesterday. About Theo. I didn’t mean to judge or upset you.”

Aiden shook his head. He seemed unable to meet Ben’s gaze. It took Ben a moment to realise that he was ashamed. “You were just being nice. I know you didn’t mean anything by it.” Aiden let out a heavy sigh and downed the remaining blood in his glass. “The truth is, I know Theo’s a dick. But I didn’t always know it. And now that I do it’s too late. We can’t help who we love, you know?”

Ben nodded sadly, although he did not know. He’d never been in love before. He had no idea what it felt like to know somebody was wrong for you and yet be unable to pull yourself away from them. He supposed it was like being powerless not to eat junk food even though you know you’re clogging your arteries with fat. Perhaps that was not the best comparison, but it was the only thing Ben could think of.

“Was Theo the one who turned you?” Ben asked.

Aiden let out an exaggerated sigh that made his lips quiver and he nodded. “I met him at a bar. I know what you’re thinking; Theo does not seem like he’d be in the same bars that I go to, but he was. We got talking and we hit it off. He was so…laid back. Fun. He took me back to his place—well, it wasn’t his place, but I thought it was at the time.”

Ben nodded along, not wanting to interrupt. He imagined that Theo probably came by that abode much in the same way that he came by this one.

“He could read me like a book. He somehow knew everything I was into without even asking,” Aiden continued, his eyes taking on a dreamy quality as he recalled the night in question. “I’m a bit of a sub in the bedroom and Theo knew that right from the word go. He even seemed to know things about me that I hadn’t even discovered yet. He was so…perfect.”

Ben very much doubted that Theo had deduced anything about Aiden whatsoever. What was more likely was that Theo was just a sadist and got lucky when Aiden just so happened to enjoy it. But, of course, he did not say that. He just nodded and listened.

“We stayed up all night and he pushed me to my limits. I mean…wow. He knows a trick or two. I literally couldn’t walk when he was done with me, which was fine because he wanted to sleep all day. I thought nothing of it. The following night he showed me what he was.” Aiden’s face darkened as a gloom fell over him. “I should have known. The signs were there that first night. His aggression. The biting…I just thought he had some extreme kinks.”

“He fed on you and you didn’t notice?” Ben asked. That was a skill he could do with learning, it would make covering his tracks a lot easier.

Aiden pulled his hood over his head as though he was trying to hide. “I was drunk and high. I couldn’t tell up from down. I woke up in the afternoon and opened the curtains. I’d never seen anyone move so fast. He was like the Flash. He pounced out of bed and hit me hard enough to knock my head off. I think I cracked my tailbone when I hit the floor so hard. In the bedroom, I’m all for a bit of violence, but it ends with the climax, you know?”

Ben smiled awkwardly. “Even after that you still stuck around?” Ben would have left that room without looking back.

“He told me I was the most interesting person he’d met in a hundred years. He said I was the only person who made him feel complete.”

Ben resisted the urge to shudder. It took a special kind of naivety to fall for lines like that, and apparently, Aiden ticked that box.

“He gave me his blood and healed all my wounds, and let me tell you, after the night we’d had, I had some wounds.”

“Mmhmm,” Ben said, trying to hide his discomfort. He was no prude, but learning about Theo in the bedroom was not something he wanted taking up any space in his mind.

“He took me back to bed and when we woke up he turned me. He didn’t even warn me. He just did it.” Aiden’s voice became choked at the memory.

“He didn’t give you a choice?”

Aiden shook his head. “He said he wanted to keep me forever. That his blood was a down payment on my loyalty. And that was that.” With a small shrug, his story was over.

Ben sat in silence for several moments as he let the story sink in. Perhaps, in Aiden’s head, that story held a special romantic place. To Ben, it sounded like the beginning of a true-crime story.

“Aiden, your relationship has been abusive from the start. He didn’t love you, he just wanted to own you.”

“I know, but I love him, you know?”

“Do you? Or has he just made you think that you do?” Ben was aware he needed to tread carefully, but he was also aware that Theo could return at any moment and this may well be the only opportunity he’d get.

“I don’t…what do you mean?”

“You’re not his boyfriend, you’re his…sex slave. You’re as much a prisoner as I am.”

“No. I’m not,’ Aiden said firmly. He wiped his eyes vigorously to remove the tears that were forming there.

“So, if you left right now, do you think he’d just accept that? Would he respect your decision?” Ben stared him right in the eye and held his gaze, forcing him to face the truth.

“Yes,” said Aiden, but it sounded more like a question. Ben raised an eyebrow in silent reply. “No,” Aiden admitted, his face dropping in defeat.

“So, what now?” Ben asked, his voice a nervous whisper. He could so easily push Aiden the wrong way and then everything would backfire. Aiden would tell Theo and this entire situation would take a turn for the drastic worse.

Aiden shook his head slowly and sucked his lips in. “I don’t know.”

“You don’t have to stay with him.”

“How am I… He’ll kill me!” Aiden’s voice grew to a shout and Ben threw up his palms to calm him.

“It’s okay, hey, shush.” Aiden settled back down and Ben relaxed. “You don’t have to do anything now. Okay? You just have to wait, and when the time is right, make the right choice.”

“What do you mean by that?” Suspicion crept onto his features and Ben knew that being completely honest with him would be a dire mistake.

“Just that these have ways of sorting themselves out. Opportunities present themselves and when you see one you need to make sure you take it.”

Aiden stared at Ben for a long while, his eyes searching him for some hidden truth. Just when it seemed that he was about to speak they heard the sound of the front door opening.

Aiden jumped visibly and wiped his face furiously, trying to hide any signs of the conversation they’d been having before. Ben tensed up and moved to the edge of his seat wondering what horrid activities Theo had in store for him tonight.

“Good evening!” Theo said jubilantly as he sauntered into the living room. Clearly, something had put him in a good mood. Once again, he had brought a guest home with him. Ben wondered if this one would end up headless as well.

A tall man with dark curly hair that hung down to his shoulders followed Theo into the room. He looked far too relaxed to be a prisoner, unlike everybody else in the room, and yet he still looked at Theo with a reprehension that betrayed his dislike. He wore a thin charcoal cardigan that came down to below his buttocks and several heavy crystals hung around his neck.

“How wonderful it is to see you getting on so well,” Theo said, looking between Ben and Aiden with a stupidly false smile on his face. “This is Riku Cole, a warlock from the area who has decided to join our team.”

“The decision was somewhat out of my hands and my preferred moniker is Rik,” the warlock said, raising his hand in a small wave.

“Riku Cole, that’s a weird name,” said Aiden, apparently with no comprehension as to how rude his comment was.

Rik, however, did not look offended. He rolled his eyes as though he’d heard the comment a thousand times before. “British dad, Japanese mum. I hope that clears that up. But like I said, I prefer Rik.”

Whilst Ben had been listening to what Rik was saying, he hadn’t really been paying attention; his mind was stuck on what Theo had said about Rik joining the team.

“He’s joining the team? I wasn’t aware we were a team,” Ben said.

“This is Benedict, the newly turned vampire I told you about. He still harbours some resentment for me,” Theo said, holding back none of his condescension.

Rik chuckled lightly, though not at Ben. “I can very well imagine there are vast swathes of people who still harbour resentment for you, Theodric.” He plonked himself down on the end of Aiden’s sofa. As he landed the crystals he wore bounced upwards and then clattered together on his sternum.

“Vast swathes?” Ben repeated. It was an interesting choice of phrase.

“Do excuse me, I am prone to an exuberant turn of phrase.”

“Yes, Riku has taken it upon himself to resurrect every dusty word in the English thesaurus,” said Theo.

“Rik, please,” Rik corrected again.

“You’re in a good mood,” Aiden said to Theo as if it was a crime to be jolly. Whilst it obviously was not a crime, Ben did find it incredibly suspicious. He got the sense that anything that made Theo that happy was probably going to have the opposite effect on him.

“I am indeed.” Theo perched on the other side of Aiden, unbuttoning his jacket as he did so, and pulled his lover into a rough embrace. Aiden squirmed but offered no resistance. “Riku here—”

“Rik,” the warlock corrected once again, but Theo carried on without paying him any attention.

“—has agreed to help perform a little ritual for me.”

Rik immediately began shaking his head in disagreement. “It won’t be little. The ritual you’re asking for will be far and away the most prodigious that I have ever attempted. I’m gonna give it my best bash, but despite my extensive aptitude for the administration of magic, this whole thing could blow up in our faces.”

Ben pinched the bridge of his nose and wondered if vampires were immune to headaches after all. He found himself having to think twice as hard to translate every sentence Rik uttered.

“Still, I remain optimistic,” said Theo.

“What is the ritual?” Ben asked, unable to suppress the ever-growing knot of unease in the bottom of his abdomen. No ritual that Theo wanted was going to be in Ben’s best interests.

Theo looked at him and smiled in a way that could only be described as predatory. “You are a progenitor, as we established last night. Although you are as of yet unaware, your very being paints a rather large target on your back.”

“Yeah, you put it there,” Ben retorted. Everything had been going just fine until Theo had shown up.

Theo laughed humourlessly. “It’s easy for you to believe that. However, no. There are older and scarier vampires than me, and there is one in particular who has a bit of a dislike for progenitors.”

“Teremun,” Ben said, recalling the name that Katelyn had mentioned right before Theo had murdered her.

“Do not speak that name!” Theo yelled. Ben froze like a gazelle who had suddenly become aware of an approaching lion.

Aiden wriggled out of Theo’s grip, not wanting to be so close to him when he was angry.

“Not a fan?” Rik asked, absolutely unfazed by Theo’s outburst.

Theo took a deep breath to calm himself and when he spoke again he sounded serene. “I am not a fan. You will find few vampires who are. The less he is mentioned the better it will be. When can never be too sure that they are out of his earshot.”

Theo snatched one of the empty glasses off the table and tossed it to Aiden who failed to catch it. The glass landed in his lap spraying him with red residue. “Fetch me a drink,” Theo said unapologetically. The mention of Teramun’s name seemed to have soured his good mood.

Aiden stood up stiffly and cast a salty glower at Theo. Theo chose not to notice and kept his gaze averted from his disgruntled lover. Ben watched them both keenly and hoped that Theo’s appalling behaviour would push Aiden closer to turning on his abusive partner.

“Whilst you are a progenitor, you are a target, a flame to be snuffed out and eradicated. And there is very little that you could do to stop such an action. But if I were to be a progenitor, I could use it to elevate my own position and permanently alter the status quo. I would no longer be beholden to the head of the Veil. I could take command of the Veil myself or create an institution to rival it.” Theo spoke with the same zeal that movie villains with overly lofty ambitions did.

“Right, so what? Are you going to clone my ability or something?” Ben was still utterly confused as to what the ritual was supposed to achieve. Somehow, Theo wanted to become a progenitor.

“No, if that were possible we’d have progenitors everywhere. Riku is going to transfer all of your unique properties to me.”

“What?” Ben’s tone was flat. Aside from the fact that what Theo had said sounded completely insane, he did not want to part with his unique properties. “Where does that leave me?”

Theo waved his hand as if that was some trivial matter. An afterthought. “By the time Riku is finished you’ll be a regular vampire, I suppose.”

‘Actually, Theodopolus, he’ll probably be dead,” Rik said. Sadly, Rik’s prediction stopped Ben from enjoying his mocking of Theo.

“What? No!” Ben said, standing up at once to emphasise his objection.

Theo took a step forwards, almost daring Ben to do something foolish. “I am afraid it is not up for negotiation.” He turned to Rik. “And do not call me that again.”

Ben looked at Rik in desperation. “Surely I don't have to die?”

Unlike Theo, Rik did look apologetic. “A ritual of this magnitude will take its toll on both of you. In order to change you both in such a fundamental way, you will both be brought down to a state of supreme weakness and only the one who absorbs the strength of the other will perish. Probably.”

“Probably?” The whole thing sounded very ill-thought-out to Ben.

“Well, it’s never been done before. I can’t be certain.”

“You didn’t mention anything about me being weakened before,” Theo said, his tone low and dangerous. He fixed Rik with a sideways glare.

“Sorry, there wasn’t much time to go over the details when you were threatening me,” Rik snapped back. So there it was, the real reason Rik was here. Like the rest of them, Theo had forced his hand.

“I offered you my protection from those angry witches.”

“Who wouldn’t have been angry had you not exposed my activities to them.”

Theo smiled and turned back to Ben. “Riku has been practising various kinds of magic that his fellow practitioners frown upon. He is now an outcast and will likely be killed if they catch him. Since I am a benevolent man, I have offered to protect him from them in exchange for one little ritual.”

“One humongous ritual. And my name is Rik,” the warlock said hotly.

“I should warn you, he has a history of reneging on his deals,” Ben said. Funnily enough the news that he was probably going to die removed any lingering fear he had of Theo. He was already going to kill him so how much worse could it get?

Theo’s hand whipped out and lashed across Ben’s face in a vicious slap. Ben’s cheek reddened and he slipped down off the sofa, breathing heavily to try and master the pain that was lancing through his face.

It was at that moment that Aiden returned to the room, a full glass of blood clutched in his hands. He looked down at Ben with silent pity and a longing to help him, but he did not dare to act against Theo’s wishes.

“Here,” he said meekly, offering the glass to Theo.

Theo took the glass without even looking at Aiden and drained it of its contents in one huge gulp. When he was finished he placed it down delicately on the table and returned his attention to the group.

“This ritual is going ahead. If any one of you tries to disrupt it, I shall kill you and everybody you have ever cared for. Aiden, show Benedict back to his room. Riku and I need to go out to prepare for the ritual. We shall return soon and the ritual shall begin at…’ he turned to Rik to finish his sentence.

“Midnight.”

“Count the hours, Benedict. One way or another, we will be parting ways tonight,” Theo said.

“No,’ said Rik, a tiny smile slithering onto his face. “Midnight tomorrow. We have to wait for the full moon. And if you even think about slapping me it won’t be happening at all. Consequences be damned.”

Theo and Rik held one another's gaze for a considerable length of time. Neither one of them wanted to yield to the other. The tension climbed every higher as both men refused to blink and Ben and Aiden could do nothing but watch. Eventually, Theo decided that there was little he could do to Rik, at least until after the ritual, and he looked away.

“Aiden, I told you to take him to his room,” Theo snapped before turning and striding out of the room.

Ben rose to his feet with a small smile on his face. He gave Rik a gleeful nod. The warlock had stood up to Theo. And the warlock had won.